Pumpkin Marble Cheesecake

2 cups crushed gingersnap cookies

1/2 cup pecans, finely chopped

1/2 cup melted butter or margarine

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine the crumbs, margarine and pecans and press firmly onto the bottom and half way up the sides of a 9 inch spring form pan. Bake for 10 minutes at 350 degrees and set aside to cool.

Filling:

2 (8 ounce) packages of cream cheese, softened

3/4 cup granulated sugar

3 eggs at room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup canned pumpkin

3/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

With electric mixer at medium speed, mix the cream cheese, 1/2 cup of the sugar and the vanilla until well blended. Add the eggs one at a time and mix well after each addition. Keep out one cup of this batter and set aside. Add the remaining sugar, pumpkin and spices to the remaining batter and blend well.

Alternately pour the pumpkin and cream cheese batters over the crust and then use a knife to cut throught the batters to create the marble effect.

Bake for 55 minutes at 350 degrees. Loosen the cake from the edges but don't remove the rim. Allow to cool to room temperature and then chill in refrigerator about 4 hours before serving. Remove rim before serving.

Serves 12.